Stem cells found in gum tissue may be best wound healers

Washington, Aug 06 (ANI): Stem cells found in mouth tissue have the ability to develop into different types of cells and can also relieve inflammatory disease, a new study has revealed.

The cells featured in the study by Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC were 'gingival mesenchymal' stem cells (GMSC), which are found in the gingiva, or gum tissue, within the mouth.

Professor Songtao Shi, the study's senior author said that gingiva has much less inflammatory reaction and heals much faster when compared to skin.

The study shows that there are two types of GMSC: those that arise from the mesoderm layer of cells during embryonic development (M-GMSC) and those that come from cranial neural crest cells (N-GMSC).

The cranial neural crest cells develop into many important structures of the head and face, and 90 percent of the gingival stem cells were found to be N-GMSC.

The two types of stem cells vary dramatically in their abilities. N-GMSC were not only easier to change into other types of cells, including neural and cartilage-producing cells; they also had much more of a healing effect on inflammatory disease than their counterparts.

When the N-GMSC were transplanted into mice with dextrate sulfate sodium-induced colitis - an inflamed condition of the colon - the inflammation was significantly reduced.